Giannis Ioannidis

Giannis Ioannidis
Personal information
Born	26 February 1945; Thessaloniki, Greece
Died	4 October 2023 (aged 78)
Nationality	Greek
Career information
Playing career	1960–1978
Position	Point guard
Number	5
Coaching career	1978–2003
Career history
As player:
1960–1978	Aris
As coach:
1978–1979	Aris
1979–1981	G.S. Larissas
1980–1981	Greece
1982–1990	Aris
1991–1996	Olympiacos
1996–1998	AEK
1999–2000	Olympiacos
2002–2003	Greece
Career highlights and awards
	As head coach: 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors ; Greek League Hall of Fame (2022); 12× Greek League champion (1979, 1983, 1985–1990, 1993–1996); 6× Greek Cup winner (1985, 1987–1990, 1994); Greek Super Cup winner (1986); Greek 2nd Division champion (1980);

Last updated December 06, 2024 • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; 26 February 1945 – 4 October 2023) was a Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democracy (ND) politician. Ioannidis was generally considered to be the best Greek professional basketball club head coach of all-time, since he was the one with the most top-tier level major Greek national club titles won (19 in total, 14 with Aris, and 5 with Olympiacos).^[1]^[2] In all competition levels overall, he won a total of 20 club league titles as a head coach. He also holds the all-time record for the most wins as a head coach, in the history of the Greek Championship.

Biography

Giannis Ioannidis was born in Thessaloniki on 26 February 1945. He studied Agriculture in the Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Ioannidis was married and had one daughter. He died on 4 October 2023, at the age of 78.^[3]

Basketball career

Playing career

During his youth, Ioannidis became a member of the youth clubs of Aris, in 1959. He joined the senior men's team of Aris, of the Greek Basket League, in 1960. He played with Aris in the Greek League, until 1978, when he retired. With 4,970 points scored as a member of Aris, he is the second highest scorer of all-time in the history of the club, after Nikos Galis.^[4]

Coaching career

Still in his playing years, Ioannidis agreed to assume the head coach position at Cretan club Ergotelis in 1977, after being offered the job by longtime friend and fellow Aristotle University of Thessaloniki student Manolis Nikiforakis.^[5] Travelling back and forth between Thessaloniki and Crete, Ioannidis managed to promote the club to the Greek B Basket League.^[5]

After retiring from playing basketball, Ioannidis became a full-time basketball coach. He eventually became the head coach of Aris, and with the club, he won a total of eight Greek League championships, five Greek Cups, and one Greek Super Cup. With Aris, he also participated at three consecutive FIBA European Champions' Cup (EuroLeague) Final Fours. Later, he coached Olympiacos, where he won four consecutive Greek League championships, a Greek Cup, and also participated at two consecutive editions of the FIBA EuroLeague's Finals.

Ioannidis was the architect of the most glorious victory of Olympiacos, which came against Panathinaikos, in the last game of the 1995–96 Greek League Finals, with a winning score of 73–38. That was his last game coaching with Olympiacos at that time. The next year, he joined AEK, where he stayed for two seasons, and with them he managed to reach one more Final of the FIBA EuroLeague. After a short come-back to Olympiacos, he finished his coaching career with the senior men's Greek national team, which he coached at the 2003 EuroBasket.

Teams coached

Ergotelis: 1977
Aris: 1978–79
G.S. Larissas: 1979–81
Greece: 1980–81
Aris: 1982–90
Olympiacos: 1991–96
AEK: 1996–98
Olympiacos: 1999–00
Greece: 2002–03

Political career

Ioannidis announced his retirement from professional basketball in the year 2004, before he was elected a New Democracy MP for the Thessaloniki A constituency in the 2004 general election, and re-elected in 2007. Since September 2007, he has been Deputy Minister Of Culture Responsible for Sports.

In the 2014 regional election, he challenged incumbent Apostolos Tzitzikostas as Regional Governor of Central Macedonia, after Tzitzikostas had lost his party's support. He was however clearly defeated in the second round.^[6] At the January 2015 legislative election, he also lost his parliamentary seat.

Awards and accomplishments

As a player

2nd highest career scorer of all-time in the history of the club Aris, with 4,970 total points scored.^[4]

As a head coach

Titles won

12× Greek League Champion: 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 (with Olympiacos)
6× Greek Cup Winner: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (with Aris), 1994 (with Olympiacos)
Greek Super Cup Winner: 1986 (with Aris)
Greek 2nd Division Champion: 1980 (with Gymnastikos)

Other honors

3× EuroLeague Finals Finalist: 1994, 1995 (with Olympiacos), 1998 (with AEK)
6× EuroLeague Final Four Participation: 1988, 1989, 1990, (with Aris) 1994, 1995 (with Olympiacos), 1998 (with AEK)
3× Greek League Finalist: 1984 (with Aris), 1992 (with Olympiacos), 1997 (with AEK)
2× Greek Cup Finalist: 1984 (with Aris), 1998 (with AEK)
Most wins in the history of the Greek League as a head coach, with a total of 418 wins.

Related Research Articles

Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki, is a major Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki.

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Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis, alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He started his senior career at the age of just 13 at Ionikos Nikaias and after noticeable success, he achieved extraordinary success as a player with Aris Thessaloniki from 1984 to 1993, in partnership with Greek basketball's biggest star Nikos Galis along with the rest of the squad, while achieving victory as the national team captain in EuroBasket 1987 in Athens, Greece's first major tournament win in non-Olympic sport which, along with Aris' extraordinary success, cultivated the sport in the country. At the end of his career, he won the EuroLeague with Panathinaikos in 1996 As head coach, he most prominently led Greece to its second European trophy in EuroBasket 2005 at Serbia and Montenegro, where a team of new and talented stars shone brightest under the nurturship of Giannakis. He would repeat the success the next year, acquiring the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, where the team most notably scored a decisive win against the USA stars of the NBA in the semi-final, which would be USMNBT's last loss in a tournament until 2019. However, Greece's arch rivals Spain would defeat Giannakis' team in the final, as they would do again in the semi-finals of the 2007 EuroBasket. Outside of the Greek national team, he would coach Greek clubs like Aris, where he had the most success as player, Olympiacos, where he achieved renewed success, and the China men's national basketball team. As a player, he was primarily a point guard, but he could also play at the shooting guard position. During his playing career, Giannakis was also widely-known under his nickname of "O Drákos", or "The Dragon" in English.

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References

↑ "Greek coaching legend Giannis Ioannidis died at 78". basketnews.com. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
↑ https://greekreporter.com/2023/10/04/greek-basketball-coach-giannis-ioannidis-dies/ ^{[ bare URL ]}
↑ "Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης – Ντούσαν Ιβκοβιτς". Tovima. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
1 2 100 χρόνια ιστορίας: Οι καλύτεροι μας παίκτες ( top10 ) (in Greek).
1 2 Όταν ο Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης ανέβαζε κατηγορία τον Εργοτέλη! 8 February 2016
↑ "Local elections: Dourou wins Attica, Kaminis reelected in Athens". To Vima . 26 May 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.

This page incorporates information from the Hellenic Parliament website

External links

Giannis Ioannidis website
Terms of office of Giannis Ioannidis at the Hellenic Parliament (in English)
The top of the Greek bench: Giannis Ioannidis (in Greek)
Hellenic Federation Profile (in Greek)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Greek coaching legend Giannis Ioannidis died at 78". basketnews.com. Retrieved 2024-01-03.

[2] ttps://greekreporter.com/2023/10/04/greek-basketball-coach-giannis-ioannidis-dies/ ^{[ bare URL ]}

[3] "Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης – Ντούσαν Ιβκοβιτς". Tovima. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.

[basketballaris.gr-4] 1 2 100 χρόνια ιστορίας: Οι καλύτεροι μας παίκτες ( top10 ) (in Greek).

[ergo-5] 1 2 Όταν ο Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης ανέβαζε κατηγορία τον Εργοτέλη! 8 February 2016

[6] "Local elections: Dourou wins Attica, Kaminis reelected in Athens". To Vima . 26 May 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.

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v t e Greek Basketball League Hall of Fame
Players	Alvertis Batiste Berry Bodiroga Bourousis Chatzivrettas Christodoulou Diamantidis Dikoudis Fasoulas Ford Fotsis Galis Giannakis Korfas Koronios Oikonomou Papaloukas Paspalj Prelević Printezis Rađja Rentzias Rivers Savić Schortsanitis Spanoulis Stojaković Tarpley Vranković Wilkins Zisis
Coaches	Ioannidis Ivković Markopoulos Obradović

Personal information
Born	(1945-02-26)26 February 1945 Thessaloniki, Greece
Died	4 October 2023(2023-10-04) (aged 78)
Nationality	Greek
Career information
Playing career	1960–1978
Position	Point guard
Number	5
Coaching career	1978–2003
Career history
As player:
1960–1978	Aris
As coach:
1978–1979	Aris
1979–1981	G.S. Larissas
1980–1981	Greece
1982–1990	Aris
1991–1996	Olympiacos
1996–1998	AEK
1999–2000	Olympiacos
2002–2003	Greece

Career highlights and awards
As head coach: 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors Greek League Hall of Fame (2022) 12× Greek League champion (1979, 1983, 1985–1990, 1993–1996) 6× Greek Cup winner (1985, 1987–1990, 1994) Greek Super Cup winner (1986) Greek 2nd Division champion (1980)